Searching for truth: the line between fact-checking and censorship

Whether it's fact-checking a debate or a tech company tamping down on misinformation, we live in an era when truth itself is a contested concept. What should we do about it?

Air Date: October 10, 2024 12:00 pm

A Trump supporter holds up a T-shirt blasting "fake news" so media could see before a rally address by President Donald Trump Thursday, Oct. 4, 2018, in Rochester, Minn. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

We have a ton of information at our fingertips. Is that a good thing? At a time when we’re bombarded with misinformation, there’s an active debate over how we should filter through the noise and search for the truth.

Maybe big tech companies should be required to fact-check what you can read on their platforms. Maybe that power should belong to the users. At what point does fact-checking verge into censorship? Our question this hour: Should media and tech companies step in to define what’s real, or is it better to let the marketplace of ideas decide?

Our guests are Will Creeley, Legal Director of FIRE (The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression), and Eugene Kiely, Director of FactCheck.org.

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